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All in all, it was your typical Silicon Valley office, full of perks for people who might be stuck working at the office for days at a time. As long as I had a change of clothes, I wouldn’t need to go home at all.
“Okay, let’s go see your office!” Melinda said excitedly.
We went back into the main room and up the stairs to the second floor. It was mostly open and shaped like a horseshoe, with meeting tables in the middle and offices around the outer wall. Although all the offices were all stocked with computer monitors and other equipment, only two were occupied by people: the two massive corner offices. Jude was in one, and the other had frosted glass rather than clear, giving me a blurry view of the person—Owen—inside.
“Your office is this one, next to Jude’s,” Melinda began. Before she could show me around, Jude hopped up from his desk and came out to greet us with a big smile.
“Amber! I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if you would come.” He was dressed the same as yesterday: dress shirt unbuttoned at the neck, sleeves rolled up. Once again, it made me feel all warm and tingly to know that he had listened to my clothing advice.
He doesn’t seem like someone worth one-point-two billion dollars, I thought while smiling back at him. After Phil’s comment at the house, I had looked Jude Cauthon up. There was plenty of information online. He even had his own Wikipedia page.
And he’s standing in front of me, smiling like I’m the best part of his day.
He was still waiting for my response, so I said, “I’m here.”
He turned to Melinda. “You’re all done showing her around?”
“Everything but her office.”
Jude nodded, then grimaced. “Well, before you show her that, I think it’s time we addressed the elephant in the room. Come on.”
He led me past my office and three more just like it before reaching the other corner office. The door was closed, so he knocked. After a moment, Owen called, “Come in.”
The office was big and airy and full of sleek, modern furniture in various shades of white and silver. An L-shaped desk adorned with only a laptop and conference phone. No other computer monitors to speak of. A white leather sofa was positioned across from the desk, which is where Owen was seated with his feet up on the coffee table. He was wearing gray sweatpants, form-fitting rather than baggy, and a plain white T-shirt.
Another conference phone was mounted on the table next to his feet, and he leaned forward to unmute it. “All of that sounds fine on this end, Mr. Rossi.”
“I am glad to hear this,” replied the caller, Mr. Rossi, in an Italian accent. Even through the tinny-sounding speaker, his voice was thick and sexy. “Especially the third provision, yes?”
“The third provision wasn’t a problem at all.” Owen uncrossed and re-crossed his legs on the table. “Honestly, if you didn’t put it in the contract, we would have. We want this to be a partnership, not just an investment.”
“This is how I am thinking as well,” Mr. Rossi replied.
Owen glanced at his watch. “Listen. I know it’s dinner time over there, so I’m going to let you go. Let’s let the lawyers get to work, and we’ll touch base tomorrow.”
“Very good.”
Owen ended the call and stood, stretching his arms behind his back. He had perfectly combed, feathery brown hair, which was at odds with the rest of his attire. Expensive Air Jordans on his feet, carefully-primped hair and flawlessly-handsome face up top, but with homeless attire in between.
“Productive call?” Melinda asked.
Owen’s face became a mask of perfect white teeth and cheek dimples. “Everything’s green on their end. This might actually go forward.” He turned his gaze on me. “Speaking of green. You came crawling back.”
“I… I didn’t crawl back!” I sputtered. “You asked me to!”
“Judeinsisted,” Owen clarified. “We can hire anyone in this town. Melinda has an inbox full of applications that would be taller than this building, if we printed them all out. The only reason you’re here is because Boston over there practically begged me to hire you. So.” He gestured at Jude.
Jude begged?I glanced at the spectacled man to my right. His cheeks were rapidly changing into every shade of red.He’s cute when he’s blushing.
“The how and the why are not important,” Jude said. “Amber is going to be a valuable asset.”
“I’m sure she will,” Owen said, with just a hint of doubt in his voice. “There’s just one more thing we have to get out of the way.”
He walked to his desk and sat down. I waited for him to elaborate, but he only swiveled back and forth like a bored child.
“Well?” he finally asked.
“Well what?”
